3/17/2014 3:14:00 AM by Stanford Advanced Materials
Graphene is a two dimensional allotrope of carbon with enormous potential to revolutionize the entire electronics industry. It is so unique that it is now the hardest, thinnest and best heat conducting material ever known. But is it really a wonder material or is it just another potential material in its research stage?
Graphene has excellent mechanical and electrical properties. Electrons travel at a very high speed as compared to other conductors. Graphene is transparent and yet dense. Moreover the efficiency of graphene is not affected by any external factors. Contrary to all other substances in this world that exist, graphene is 2D in nature. Hence many people consider this to be a marvel material or a wonder material but such hype is arguably premature.
Graphene has a host of disadvantages. For instance, if graphene is commercialized then we would never be able to switch devices off or control their operation as the speed of electrons inside graphene cannot be controlled.
Furthermore graphene is found to have toxic qualities therefore it can prove to be dangerous for human beings. As graphene is so thin it can easily penetrate the human bodies and reach our brains lungs or kidneys causing them to malfunction. It can reach the human body directly during its manufacture, through the use of electronic devices or even inhaled through the environmental channels. This toxicity can get into the environmental channels and have negative effects on ecology, flora and fauna. Hence utilization of graphene on a large scale should be done in such a way that it does not harm anyone or the environment.
We all agree that graphene has a lot of advantages over silicon and if implemented as a semiconductor we will get more efficient and cheap devices. More so the average temperature of any device will reduce by 13oC. But the current technology or machinery available does not support large scale graphene production. Hence we have to bring a radical change in the industry which will require an enormous capital, and voluminous know-how. To develop such a technology will take few decades and thus at present graphene cannot simply overrule silicon or suddenly emerge as a miracle in the industry.
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